CPTnet
June 11, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: June 10, 2003

reported to Doug Pritchard via satellite phone

A CPT delegation of ten persons arrived in Baghdad by road from Amman,
Jordan, for a ten day visit. At the Jordan/Iraq border, U.S. troops
cursorily searched one of their cars but asked no questions and did not
check their passports. Just before the border, and also in the no man's land
at the border, delegates observed several hundred tents housing Palestinian
refugees displaced from Iraq.

On the highway between Ramadi and Falluja, about 100 kilometers west of
Baghdad, someone in a car stopped them, saying that there were bandits on
the road ahead. This section of the highway is known for this danger. All
vehicles in sight on the highway turned around to seek another route. Four
US military vehicles soon appeared and formed up a convoy of all these
vehicles. CPT was reluctant to join such a convoy but was also reluctant to
be left alone on the road at this point, and so fell in line with the other
cars. The US military vehicles left the convoy at Falluja. One of the
vehicles hired by CPT then died due to bad gasoline and had to be towed the
rest of the way to Baghdad by one of the remaining two CPT vehicles.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the CPT team continued to try to find out information
on Iraqi prisoners. A US army major at the Iraqi Assistance Mission said
that all prisoners are under the US Provost Marshall and Military Police and
that they are arranging tribunals. However, all information on their cases
and whereabouts is confidential. The major said that he had no idea how
often or where these tribunals are held. [Lisa Martens on satellite phone:
there are a lot of explosions here right now.]

The team also attended a meeting of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) and
the United Nations. Aid workers said that attacks on US forces and Iraqi
police by Baathists and religious groups had increased recently along two
major highways. The workers said that, despite this, they will not carry
weapons.

The team also reported that a whole block in their neighbourhood has just
been taken over by an Iranian political party opposed to the current
government in Iran, and that the occupants have been forcibly moved out. US
troops now also patrol the area, apparently accepting or supporting this
displacement. [Lisa: there are more shots and explosions.]